The “forth estate” evokes the “forth-right estate”, empowering the “fourth estate” to fulfil its watchdog role – a task too frequently left to the cartoonists who bark loudest and seem most resistant to muzzling.

Australian cartoonist Bill Leak (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/opinion/cartoons/)was the conscience of my country under the xenophobic Howard Government and his platform was the right-leaning “The Australian” newspaper whose columnists frequently acted as the ‘running dogs of officialdom’ while Leak bit at the heels of the authorities.

Cartoonists and other satirists frequently confront us with the most pithy, biting media commentary – saying what journalists often feel unable to express and shocking us out of our complacency as citizens.